Serendipity
by bore-ealis
Summary: It wasn't his ideal Christmas, but it was worth it. Even the ice cream during winter. Eremika Fluff Week Day 5.


Eremika Fluff Week Day 5

Prompt: Surprised Gift

A/N: Originally posted in tumblr. So, who knows the movie Serendipity? Well, this fic is somehow based off in that movie. I know it's not Christmas but it's cute and fluffy and my mind can't generate original fluffy ideas.

Warnings: OOC Mikasa. (Sorry not sorry tho)

* * *

Eren's ideal Christmas was the ones he had back at home when he was a kid. His mom would bake pumpkin pies and cook some roasted chicken and there would be a lot of cranberry marmalade and snicker doodles. He would tuck himself on the couch before the TV with thick socks on his feet and some hot cocoa while watching _It's a Wonderful Life_. But now, he wondered why in the world was he at Bloomingdale's in the middle of the night before Christmas rather than stayed back at his apartment and watched the annual airings of other Christmas films.

The whole place was quite a whirl during the holiday seasons; everyone was piped up for the sales and discounts and last minute shopping. Bloomingdale's was brimming in excitement despite the bitter winter air outside. Eren could hear all sorts of sounds: the annoying stereo that played Jolly Old St. Nicholas again and again, the babies' wails and cries, the high-pitch voices of women asking if they could get this or that in medium size or in a different color.

And as for Eren, there were currently two things that were bothering him. One was the fact that he was missing It's a Wonderful Life, and two, the gift he would get his girlfriend. To be understood even more, Eren's girlfriend was the type of girl who was quite hard to please. He had been planning on giving her a copy of _Love in the Time of Cholera_ but then changed his mind when she said that she was not at all impressed with books. That fact didn't make Eren's Christmas easier at all.

If it weren't for the dense feeling hung upon the air, he would have looked around the mall for the perfect gift for her. But then again, he thought otherwise.

"Oh well," he mumbled to himself as he shoved his hands to his pockets. "some other time would do.

Just when he was about to exit the mall, he happened to pass by the counter and was quickly taken aback by a piece of clothing displayed in the racks. A scarf. A warm red scarf beckoned to him; Eren then thought that the scarf would be the perfect gift for his girlfriend.

He squirmed through the crowd as quickly as he could. There was just one piece left, and he couldn't afford to lose that. As he was about to yank the scarf from its standing, a hand reached out for it.

Eren tried to tug it away from the other hand. "Um, excuse me, but I think I saw this first."

"Oh?" the person raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you, now?"

Eren looked at the person, it was a girl. Her face was all flushed up from the atmosphere of the whole place and the coldness of the weather. Her hair was slick and polished black and cut short, perfectly framing her jaws and face. Her features suggested that she was not from around; probably Asian? Her gray eyes bore right through his with accusing darts, but Eren simply gulped under her gaze.

Eren looked down at the scarf; their fingers were only a slight finch of distance away from each other.

"Who's it for?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"Who's it for?"

"Oh," Eren suddenly felt his face went warm. "it's uh, for no one."

"No one?" she asked.

"Yeah." He clutched the scarf harder. "In particular. No one in particular."

"Is that so?" the girl tilted her head in question. Eren nodded in response.

"Well then, I'll be taking this." She quickly yanked the scarf off from his hand and turned her back on him, falling in line to the counter.

"Hey," he reached for her shoulder, causing her to face him. "Uh, my girlfriend."

The girl flicked a part of her dark hair from her face. "Your girlfriend?"

"That scarf," he pointed the red fabric. Suddenly, he felt as if he wanted to just disappear from the world. "It's supposed to be for my girlfriend."

"Oh." She nodded her head in understanding and bit on her lower lip. "Well then," she held the scarf before him, offering it to Eren. "you can have it."

Hold up. One moment, this girl was so eager to buy the scarf and now she was just voluntarily giving it to Eren? He blinked his eyes in confusion.

"Well, aren't you going to take it?"

"A—are you sure?" he reluctantly reached out for the scarf.

She offered him a small smile. "I could always find another scarf."

Eren took the scarf from her and He let his fingers play with the texture of the scarf. The girl gave way for him to fall in line to the counter. He saw that the girl was still in her post and for some reason, it made Eren uncomfortable. Not that he didn't enjoy her company, but it was the fact that there was silence upon the air.

"A—are you, uh really sure you're okay with um, me buying this?" He stammered as he attempted for a conversation.

She tucked a portion of her hair behind her ear. "Yes. It's not really important, anyway."

"Well, uh, it's cold outside. Last call." He stupidly waved the scarf in front of her.

She chuckled at his actions. "It's not for me anyways."

"Oh? Well who's it for?"

"Um, it's for a, uh, special someone." She lowered her head.

"Oh, I see." Eren nodded as he chewed on his lower lip. For some reason he was not quite expecting that.

Eren was near to the counter. He kept looking to his side, just to make sure that the girl was still beside him. At some point, he would want to just disappear from her because of who-knows-what reasons but at the same time, he was so eager to delve into another conversation. This time, he would try to avoid some questions that might eventually lead to awkward situations. Just as they were right now.

"Uh, you're still here." He said stupidly, as he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand.

She blinked her dark eyes. God, they were so beautiful. "Oh, um, does it bother you? I could just go."

"No, no!" he raised his hands in defense. "It's not that. Are you perhaps waiting for someone?"

She pursed her lips which then pulled to a light smile. "Nope."

He nodded his head. 'Shit,' he thought. He couldn't stop now. He was so tempted to talk to her, to ask her why she planned to give her 'special someone' a scarf, what was her favorite book, her favorite color, her favorite holiday, or if she wanted to go grab some ice cream after he paid for the scarf.

Well, maybe the ice cream would do for a start.

"Hey, are you doing anything tonight?"

The girl looked at her with questioning stares. "Uh, no. Not really."

"Well um, would you like some ice cream after this?"

Her eyes widened at his statements. "What? Right now?"

"Well, after I pay for th—"

"But it's so cold tonight! It's even snowing." she exclaimed.

"Oh, okay." Well, at least he tried. "I'll take that as a no, then."

"I didn't mean it as a no."

"So, you're in for ice cream?"

She smirked at him. "Yeah, of course."

Eren let out a sigh of relief. God, it felt as if a weight was lifted off from his shoulders. He caught himself staring at her intently, as if he were reading every sparkle in her eyes or what every smirk in her lips means.

"Next, please."

For some reason, she noticed that Eren's gaze lingered upon her. She nudged him lightly with the elbow. "Hey."

"Next, please!" the cashier basically screamed.

"Ah, yes!" Eren shook his head and blinked then approached the counter. "Sorry about that."

She chuckled and Eren felt somehow embarrassed at how she noticed that he was staring at her.

The moment they got out of Bloomingdale's, it was goddamn cold.

Eren felt as if his ears and fingers turned ice the moment a crisp air blew right through them. She flinched slightly and covered a part of her face with her hands.

He rubbed his hands against each other and blew on it. "So, still up for ice cream?"

"Anything you want."

"Ice cream it is then."

The walk was not at all that uncomfortable or awkward to Eren. He actually enjoyed it. It was like one of those getting-to-know-you-games all over again. Most of the time, he was the one who would start a small conversation, and she would simply supply some answers or a question. Despite the cold and how some snowflakes gathered up to their hair and lashes, it was something he had been really piped up for.

After a few minutes of walking and getting to know each other, Eren with all the mustered up courage, grabbed her wrist and pulled her just before the front door of an ice cream parlor.

"How about here?"

"Serendipity? I was kinda thinking of, you know, ice cream just around the corner."

He scoffed at her. "Really now? You want to eat ice cream outside?"

She rolled her eyes at Eren. "Well, it was your idea, anyway."

"Come on." He pushed the door of the parlor as he dragged her in along.

* * *

As they were settled down to a small table near the window, Eren didn't notice how his vanilla ice cream was slowly melting since he was too busy in either uncomfortably shifting in his seat or staring at her.

She took a bite on her peach parfait and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Your ice cream's melting."

He quickly dug his spoon into his ice cream and put a plentiful to his mouth.

"Why vanilla?" she asked.

"Why not?"

"Well, for one thing, vanilla is boring."

"Says who?"

"Says everyone."

"Well your everyone, missy," he said as he waved his spoon before her. "does not include me."

She rolled her eyes. "Do you enjoy vanilla sex then?"

Eren almost spluttered out his ice cream at what she said. "What the hell?"

"I'm kidding." She chuckled as she took another bite. "So, what's your girlfriend like?"

"My what?"

"Your girlfriend. The one whom you'll be giving _that_." She pointed at the paper bag that was placed beside Eren; it was the scarf he bought at Bloomingdale's.

"Oh, uh," he straightened up from his position and leant his back against the chair. "well, uh, I don't know, really."

She looked at him with confused eyes. "You don't know?"

"She's just," he ran a rueful hand through his brown unkempt hair. "unpredictable."

"I like unpredictable."

"Well, she's not your kind of unpredictable."

"Try me."

"There was this one time when we happen to pass by a bookstore and I was kinda looking through some Kazuo Ishiguros—"

"Hey, I love Kazuo Ishiguro." She said as she tucked her hands below her legs to warm it.

"You do? What's your favorite?"

"Remains of the Day. Carry on with your story."

"So, as I was looking through his books and she kinda blurted out how she wanted to read one of Kazuo's books and so I bought her one."

"Which one?"

"Remains of the Day."

She nodded her head. "I see. What happened?"

"Well, she never really touched it. It just stayed at her bookshelf, all mint-condition and still in plastic."

"And so you resorted to giving her a scarf instead?" she pulled on the collar of her coat and tucked her chin in it.

"Well yeah. I was planning to give her Love in the Time of Cholera but it will just be like Remains of the Day."

"Really?" she raised an eyebrow at him. "You thought of giving her Marquez when she didn't even touch Ishiguro's?"

Eren scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I'm giving her the scarf."

She crossed her arms before her chest and leant back. "Yeah, you are."

Then everything was still at the moment. Eren didn't mind anything at the moment, not his ice cream, not his girlfriend, not the scarf, not the coldness, just her deep dark eyes. He was to drown in her orbs and he thought that maybe, it would be nice.

She coughed.

"You okay?" Eren asked.

She nodded. "It's just the cold."

"I knew ice cream's a bad idea."

"Nah, it's actually nice. I'd better be going." She thumbed her bag and stood up from her seat.

"Yeah," Eren stood up as well and looked at his watch. "it's getting late."

They got out of Serendipity and bid off their good-byes. "Merry Christmas. Thanks for the ice cream."

"Sure, no problem. Have a merry Christmas too."

The girl took off, leaving Eren standing stupidly outside Serendipity. He found himself somehow lost, a bit reluctant and hesitant in bidding off good-bye. But there she went, dark hair and eyes and all, her figure getting smaller with each step she took farther from him. He walked the opposite way and let his mind drift off to whatnots. Most of the time, Eren found himself thinking about her, then at the bitter weather, then at the idea of how he wanted a scarf, then at the scarf itself. . .

He left the scarf.

"Shit," he cursed between clenched teeth. "not the fucking scarf."

Despite the cold air, Eren ran as fast as he could back to the ice cream parlor. He went pass through a lot of people probably on their way home just after the Christmas rush. His breath started to hitch, clouding his face and for somewhat unknown reason, he felt a certain tinge of excitement and nervousness that tugged unto him.

He slowed down when he was a good few meters away from Serendipity and accidentally bumped against a body.

"Sorry," he said and looked at the person whom he bumped.

"Oh, hello again." It was the girl. She smiled at him and straightened up her coat. "I—uh, here." She handed him a paper bag. "You forgot this."

Eren chuckled and took the bag from her. "Yeah, real stupid of me to forget."

"You know, I could have just taken it away with me."

"Well, thanks for not doing it."

"No problem. So um—"

"Uh, yeah. I better be going. Sorry for uh, this." He waved the bag across the air.

"Oh, it's nothing." She pulled up a small hand indicating that it was no trouble at all.

He simply looked at her, and she at him. They bid their good-bye but they stood in the middle of a snowy night in New York, waiting for something to happen.

"Uh, you know what, I really don't have anywhere to go to tonight." The girl said. "Perhaps you want to hang out?"

Eren eagerly nodded. "Uh, yeah. That would be cool."

She took his hand and practically dragged him as she ran through the crowd. "Hey, where are we going?" He called out to her as he caught for air while running.

"Central Park. You skate?"

"Skate?"

She nodded her head eagerly. "Well, what do you say?"

* * *

The two of them sat among the bleachers at Wollman Rink as they got ready for skating. Eren sat beside her as she leant down to tie her borrowed pair of ice-skating shoes. He looked at her by the corner of his eyes; she was flushed and tainted red, from the tip of her nose to her ears. Each breath she drew clouded her face as a tinge of coldness lingered upon it.

Eren drew in a deep breath. What the hell was he doing? This was not in his plan. His original plan was to find a gift for his snotty girlfriend and go home as soon as possible so he could still catch half of It's a Wonderful Life. But there he was, in the middle of a snow-stricken night, at Central Park about to ice-skate with a girl he barely even knew for just a few hours.

_I don't even know her name._

But he thought that every second, every slipping second from his palms were all worth it with her.

A crisp wind blew right into them, a part of her short black hair hitting him in the face. Eren caught her gardenia scent and it filled through his senses. The night would constantly bother them with its winter air.

Eren opened his paper bag and took the red scarf out of it.

He haphazardly draped the soft woollen fabric through her shoulders, and then pulled it around her neck.

"What are you doing?" the girl looked up at him, her eyes sparkled in wonder.

"I think you're cold."

She pursed her lips and let her fingers feel the hem of the scarf. "And wh—"

"Just shut up." Eren placed a hand in the air, telling her to zip her mouth.

She nodded in understanding and smiled. "Well, thanks. Too bad you wasted this evening, though."

He shrugged his shoulders and stretched his legs. "I wouldn't say that. Take it as a Christmas present from me."

"That's quite surprising. You ready to skate?"

"Yeah."

He stood up and offered her a hand. The girl took it and Eren pulled her up to her feet, preventing her to stumble with the blades. He aided her to the rink and they skated all throughout the night.

* * *

"You're not that much good of a skater, huh?"

They were idly walking around the streets of New York. The night, though late as it was, still had a festive air that hovered above them. They just finished skating and Eren, being a not-so-good skater at all, bet a dollar to a penny that his ass was having frostbites.

"Yeah, whatever." He waved a lazy hand just above them. "Just because you're good at skating doesn't mean you're good at everything."

"Yeah?" she raised an eyebrow at him. Eren simply rolled his eyes and sighed.

They continued walking; their shoes upon the damp paved sidewalks and momentarily distinct sounds were all that they could here. The girl constantly clutched the scarf that was secured upon her neck. She hooked her index and middle finger into the scarf and pulled it up to her mouth.

"Say," she said as she stopped by a newsstand by the street. The paved street was dimly lit by a lamppost that stood a good few meters away from where Mikasa was standing. "what's this for?" she let her fingers slide through the soft red fabric.

Eren turned around to face her. "A scarf. As a Christmas present. Don't you like it?"

"I like it. But are you sure you want me to have it?"

"Well, I couldn't take it back, could I?"

"No," she chuckled softly.

"I just think," he drew in a deep breath as he ran his fingers through his hair. "it's meant for you. Or I don't know, really. I just, urgh, it's um, like tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Well, I don't even know where you're from or who you are, but we kinda like got along. Hey, what's your name?"

She smiled at him as she tucked a part of her hair behind her ear.

"Mikasa. My name's Mikasa."

"Mikasa," he repeated her name. "that's a, uh, wonderful name."

Mikasa smiled at him. "Well, what's yours?"

"Uh, Eren. I'm Eren."

"Well, Eren," she offered him her hand. "thank you very much for this scarf."

Eren took her hand and slightly shook it. "You're welcome, Mikasa. Oh, and um, nice meeting you too."

"Such a delight." She smiled.

"So, uh," he let go of her hand and put his inside his coat pocket. "when can I see you again?"

Mikasa looked at him and bit on her lower lip. Eren suddenly hinted out what her emotion meant.

"Oh yeah, right. I kinda forgot about that." He scratched his head as he struggled for words. "you've got this uh, someone who happen to be very speci—"

"Eren."

"Yeah?"

"Have you read any Gabriel Garcia Marquez? Do you like his books?"

Eren's eyebrows scrunched at Mikasa's statements. What was she getting at now? "Well, yeah. Of course. Why?"

Mikasa then approached the newsstand. There were also some second-hand books, boxes of cigarettes, sweets and candy canes that were being sold. She took a book and flipped it to the last page. Eren scooted his head to the side to peek on the title of the book Mikasa took from the stand. _Love in the Time of Cholera._

She fished a pen out of her pocket and started scribbling at the last page.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm writing my number. There." She pushed the button of the pen.

Eren's face scrunched in confusion. "I don't get it. Am I supposed to rip that page from the book or buy that, because you see, I have a copy of the same book back at home?"

"Do you have a dollar with you?"

"A dollar, hmm, let me see." He murmured as he tapped his pockets. "Dollar, dollar,"

"Oh, make it a five-dollar bill."

He took out his wallet and gave her a five-dollar bill. "What do you need it for?"

"Here," she handed him her pen and the book. "write down your number on it."

Eren took the pen from her hand and pushed it up and down. "My number?"

"Just do it."

Eren groaned in annoyance but he did as he was told. He placed the dollar on top of the book and wrote his number. As soon as he finished, he gave her the book, the five-dollar bill and her pen.

Mikasa took it from his hands; she put the pen back to her pocket then approached the newsstand. She placed the book back to its shelf. Eren did not quite understand what Mikasa was doing because she handed the vendor the five-dollar bill with his number in it. In exchange, the vendor gave her a candy cane.

"What the hell is she going to do with a candy cane?" Eren mumbled through his breaths.

She took the candy wrapper off from the candy cane and started licking it. Then out of the blue, Eren realized that Mikasa was walking away from the newsstand. Eren shook his head and blinked. He ran to her and caught her by the arm.

"Hey!"

"Eren!" she shrieked.

"What are you doing?" he asked, with a tone in his voice.

Mikasa simply looked at him with her dark eyes. "I'm going home."

"You're going home? What do you mean _you're going home?_ You're not going home!"

Her eyes turned wide at what Eren said. "Wha—I, uh, what do you—"

"I mean, urgh!" Eren groaned loudly. He took in a deep breath as he tried to calm his nerves off. "The book." He pointed at the newsstand.

Mikasa nodded. "Yes? What about it?"

"A—and the dollar? What's going to happen?"

Mikasa shrugged her shoulder. "Eren, I don't know."

"_You don't know?_ Ha! That's quite funny, Mikasa."

"Well, when you gave me this scarf, there were still a lot of things that you did not know about me. Even my name."

"Well, when you ate ice cream with me back at Serendipity and ice-skated with me, you didn't even know my name."

"Well, the same goes the other way around, Eren." She snickered and bit on her candy cane. Eren scrunched at the noise of her teeth gnawing on a hard piece of candy. "But if you're thinking we're quits, then you're wrong."

"What made you say that?"

Mikasa waved a part of her scarf that was dangling loosely from her neck. "You gave me this."

Eren sighed. "Fine. So what's supposed to happen?"

"If we're meant to see each other again, you will find the book and I will find the dollar."

"How in the world am I going to get that book in my hands? I already have a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera back at home."

There was no choice. The only thing he could think of is to buy the book. It's a second hand book anyway; it could be cheaper than a new one.

"You're not thinking of buying it, are you, Eren?"

Eren smirked at her playfully and made his way back to the newsstand.

Just when he was a good few meters away from the newsstand, Eren saw a young man, just about the same age as he was, took the book from the racks. He paid for it, and the vendor gave him his change. Eren could swear that the change was his five-dollar bill that had his phone number in it.

He ran his hands through his face. He couldn't just believe what happened. So what now? Did he need to find the man who took off with the book and the five-dollar bill?

Mikasa ran to him and placed a warm hand upon his shoulder. "Hey."

"There goes your number."

"Tell you what, I think it's not yet that late." She looked at her watch.

Eren looked by his shoulder. What else did she have in mind? "Mikasa, what a—"

"Why don't we play a game?"

Eren turned around to face her. Well, tonight was full of games. Perhaps another one wouldn't hurt. "What now?"

"Let's go inside that building." Mikasa pointed to a building that was just across the street with her thumb.

"Now what are we going to do?"

She held unto his wrist and crossed the street. She pushed through the front door of the building. On the corner of the lobby, there were two elevators; Mikasa dragged Eren there.

"So, there are twenty-eight floors in this building. I'll get on one of the elevators, and you get on the other. You press any number—"

"Any number?"

"Any number. And when we happen to be at the same floor, then. . ."

Eren crossed his arms before his chest. "Then?"

Mikasa smiled at him. "Let's see what will happen, shall we?"

She pressed the _up_ button to one of the elevators, and Eren did the same. With a 'ding' at the same time, both the elevators opened. Eren looked at Mikasa for one last time before getting in the elevator.

The moment Eren got in the elevator, he pressed number twenty-three. He could only hope that Mikasa would press for floor number twenty-three as well.

Just when he was half-way through the whole thing, his elevator stopped at floor eleven. A boy entered and pressed one of the buttons.

It reached the twelfth floor, the thirteenth, the fourteenth, and so on, until he was inching his way out of the box.

Finally, the 'ding,' and the door opened.

Eren stepped out of the elevator, leaving the boy behind him. He eyed the whole floor as he searched for the girl with black hair and eyes and a silly looking scarf around her neck. To his disappointment, the girl he seemed to be looking for was not at the twenty-third floor of the building where he was currently at.

* * *

The moment Mikasa stepped out of the elevator, she was disappointed. She looked around; she saw that the other elevator was still shut closed.

Eren was not on the same floor as she was.

To her dismay, she went back inside the elevator and pressed for the ground floor.

Twenty-three seconds later, the other elevator opened.

Eren stood out of it, but just like her, he was disappointed.

They both pressed for the twenty-third floor.


End file.
